


Dancing With Death

by Kazura_Ven



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 00:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13869402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kazura_Ven/pseuds/Kazura_Ven
Summary: Inigo watched his own mother die before him. After seeing his father die in this new timeline, Inigo is plagued with flashbacks. Will these flashbacks haunt him for the rest of his life?This called the "I love this character and am willing to put them through unnecessary suffering"





	1. Changing Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the format may be different from the other fics I've read on here. But I am new to publishing here so I'm still learning the ropes.

Inigo watched from the sidelines as Robin’s thoron pierced through his father’s abdomen. Horror and disbelief filled his eyes as he sank to his knees. The sounds of the raging battle faded out around him; the similar cries from his sister, Owain shouting at him to snap out of it. Inigo didn’t even feel himself being lifted onto Minerva.

All he heard were the cries of his mother, his real one. 

A beautiful morning had been plagued with death. An influx of risen had invaded the castle and were ravaging everything in their sight. 

This was the last day Inigo would see his mother. He was only twelve years old.

Olivia pulled her children down the hall. Without looking she turned the sharp corner and was met with a sword. Olivia fell to the ground as the sword impaled her. Her two children screamed and ran back the way they had came. They opened a door to one of the maid’s quarters and barred the door with furniture. Lucina and Inigo sat huddled in a corner for what seemed like hours before Frederick could find them.

 

Inigo’s senses slowly returned. In fact, he almost fell off of his mount, not realizing he was put up there.

“He’s safe, your father.” Gerome said.

Inigo frantically looked down to where his father had been. He was alive! Relief could not travel faster through him. All had not been lost after all.

“L-let me down, so I can fight. We need t-to finish this.” 

Gerome didn’t even look back at him. “No. I can feel you shaking next to me. Besides, the battle is almost over.”

“But I can still-”

“How can you fight if you’re shaking. Do you want to get yourself killed?”

Inigo stayed silent. He felt a heat creep on his face.

Gerome was right, the battle had already ended. The troops wearily made their out of the castle. The healers were making their rounds among the masses, patching up the wounded.

Brady came down to Gerome and Inigo.

“Inigo, I saw you go down earlier. You need healing?” he asked.

Despite it being out of his control, Inigo felt a little bit of shame. “No, nothing to major. I already got it healed.” he lied.

Brady looked at him skeptically. “You sure? You lied about an injury before.”

“I gave him one of my elixirs. He’s fine.” Gerome covered.

Brady shrugged it off and walked away. 

“Thanks.” Inigo whispered.

Gerome nodded.

 

Once camp was set up, Inigo retired to his tent early. He flopped onto his bedding, stomach first. On a normal night, he’d be out cavorting around town. However, he was much too drained from the day’s events…

“Inigo?” Lucina opened the flap on his tent door. “May I speak with you a minute?”

Inigo laid still, feigning to be asleep. He heard Lucina walk in and stop next to him. Lucina lifted his blankets on top of him and sat down beside his bed.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that. I made a promise not to make you go through that again.” Lucina’s voice was getting choked up. “I know he’s okay but-” She was full on crying now.

He couldn’t ignore her, nor his own tears. He sat up and wrapped his arms around his sister. By now Inigo was crying just as much as Lucina. It was nice to not being crying alone for once.


	2. New World, Same Risks

Inigo left his new future behind. Along with his name and old friends, save for Owain and Severa. All three had taken foreign names and foreign spouses.

“Laslow” and his wife, Azura, had been happily married for a few years and Azura gave birth to two beautiful children. The oldest, Shigure, had his mother’s beautiful hair and his father’s chronic shyness. The younger, Soleil, had her grandmother’s pink hair and her mother’s soft complexion.

Due to the deep realms, it wasn’t long before their children were grown. Laslow tried his best to see his children grow up despite the complications of war and two separate dream bubbles. Every time he left he felt like he was he was missing an important milestone. Like Shigure’s first lost tooth or Soleil’s first step. Laslow protested the idea of being away from his children but Azura and Xander assured him it was the safest place for them.

Laslow understood. The only thing worse than seeing his mother die would be seeing Soleil or Shigure die before him. Surely, that time he would break completely.

When the deep realms proved not to be enough, Soleil and Shigure had joined their ranks. It felt wrong putting children, his children, on the front lines. He tried to tell himself they would be safer under his watch but even that turned out to be a lie.

Laslow watched his daughter fall in front of him. Soleil took an attack for him, the ghostly soldier struck her right down her chest. 

His breathing hitched. A flash of his mother. No! A flash of his father. Not now, dammit! It took everything he had to snap himself out of it. The fear and panic was replaced with rage. 

Laslow blocked the soldier's swing from finishing off his daughter. He pushed the soldier back. With a swing of Laslow’s sword, the soldier began to dissipate. Soon the crowd around them followed the same fate.

By the end of the battle, Shigure had picked up his sister to get her healing. Azura stood near her husband. His breathing was heavy, not just from the toll of the battle. 

Laslow felt his knees buckle beneath him. Azura caught him and guided him gently to the ground. His vision and hearing were fading but he could barely hear his wife.

“She’s going to be alright... Laslow?” 

He felt his head resting on Azura’s chest. There weren’t as many tears this time, just the initial shock. Laslow’s knuckles were white as he gripped his knees. Still he sat paralyzed, using his wife for support.


	3. Overcast

Laslow returned to their house in the astral plane with Azura and Shigure. All three were wracked with worry. They all tried to go on with their post-battle routines but they all had Soleil on their minds.

A knock on the door sent chills through the house. Azura opened it and let Odin in.

“Elise is taking care of Soleil in the infirmary. She’s in stable condition but she’s still asleep.” Odin said.

All the tension in the room had dissipated. Azura raced out of the house, Shigure following. 

“Elise said she won’t be able to fight for a while.”

“I don’t want her fighting at all. Shigure either.”

“They’re the same age we were when we started fighting.” Odin felt the same about Ophelia fighting with him but he chose to see her as an adult making her own decisions.

Laslow shook his head. “But you don’t understand. Our children don’t have to fight.” 

 

After what seemed like forever, Soleil began to stir. 

Azura brushed the hair out of her daughter’s face. “Good morning, Sunshine.” She whispered. 

Soleil’s weary eyelids peeled open. The room was lit by candle. She could see her mother clearly but she struggled to see two figures slumped against the wall. 

“Your father and brother fell asleep a while ago.Soleil...” Azura took a moment to think. “What you did was very brave and I’m very proud of you for being selfless.”

“Awww, Mom.”

“But!” Azura cut in. “It was still extremely reckless of you.”

“Mom, if I didn’t step in Dad would have been…” Soleil couldn’t bear to finish her sentence. Her mother knew.

“I know sweetheart, but no parent wants to see their baby hurt.” 

Soleil wanted to argue so badly. What would she do if she had lost her dear father or mother? She had almost lost Shigure before she had even met him! Soleil had seen how Shigure struggled with the destruction of his village. How would they be able to go on without either of their parents? How could she go on if she was all by herself…

Unfortunately, sleep was taking back its grasp. Soleil fought to keep her eyelids open.

Azura leaned forward and planted a kiss on Soleil’s forehead. “You need more rest. We’ll all see you in the morning.”

And with that Soleil’s eyelids closed shut.


	4. A Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha longest chapter ever! I will fully admit to using Laslow and Soleil's B support as a base. But given how much I genuinely hate how supports are written in general, I scrapped and rewrote quite a bit. I tried my best to make things flow better and have more emotion since the only thing we can see are the sprites which are pretty limited in emotion.

Soleil woke up to the bright light coming in through the window. She tried to sit up but gasped at the excruciating pain from her chest. 

Laslow came in at the sound of her distress. “Are you okay?”

Soleil let out a small chuckle. “I’m ok, Dad.”

He sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. “Are you feeling better, Soleil?” his voice was calm and caring. “Have you had someone to look at your injury this morning?”

Soleil shook her head. “I just woke up. I feel relatively fine though. Just as long as I don’t try to sit up. Heheh.” She smiled up at her father, trying to lighten the mood. Laslow’s face showed more worry than humor. Clearly jokes wouldn’t work this time. “Dad, I’m sorry. I just wanted to prove that I could be of use in battle. My first big chance and I blew it.”

Laslow look breath. “I don’t care about whether you won or not. I’m just glad you weren’t gravely injured.” he exhaled. “However, I want to know why you would even think about doing something so incredibly reckless? Forcing yourself in front of me almost got you killed!” His tone had grown increasingly sterner.

Soleil had expected her father to come at her with reasoning. She knew he would never yell but Soleil would always end up crying. “If I hadn’t done that you would have been worse off than me! You could’ve been ki-” She choked on her own words.

Her father’s expression softened. He took one of Soleil’s hands into his own. “Soleil… I don’t care how pure or noble your intentions were. You are forbidden from putting yourself in danger, even if it’s to help me. The only person you should worry about on the battlefield is yourself.

“But that’s not fair! I have to protect those who matter to me! I can’t stand the thought of losing you or…”

“And how do you think I’d feel if I’d lost you? We’d all be devastated, Soleil.”

Soleil could feel the warm tears rolling down her cheeks. “JUST STOP! You couldn’t begin to understand how I feel!”

“Eh?” Laslow was caught off guard.

“You don’t know how lonely it was in the deep realms… and how scared I was…” She admitted. Soleil carefully propped herself up so she was eye level with her father. “Every time I watched you leave, I knew it might be the last time I ever saw you. Now that I’m fighting at your side, I want to protect you no matter what. I WON’T just sit back and watch you fight by yourself!” She stopped to take a breath. 

She leaned forward and placed her head on Laslow’s shoulder. I won’t ever let you die on me. I don’t care what happens to me…”

Laslow embraced his daughter in a light hug. He could feel the warm tears on his undershirt. It was that moment that he finally understood what it was like being a parent and what went through their minds before they died. Laslow let the silence sit before he spoke again.

“... I know how you feel.”

Soleil sniffled in his shirt. “How could you?” she asked bitterly.

“When a was young…” he took a shaky breath. “I lost both of my parents to a horrendous war...My beautiful mother died right before my eyes, trying to protect my sister and I. I was only twelve…”

“... That’s awful… but what about your dad?”

“I… I was sixteen. I watched him take a thoron to the chest” Laslow let a fear tears slide down his cheek.

Another lull had passed. “Dad… I’m so sorry… I had no idea. I mean I knew they were gone but.. I didn’t know you were there.”

Laslow gave a light hearted laugh. He rubbed Soleil’s back. “Now you know why I was so terrified… For a moment I thought I’d lost you the same way I lost them… I never considered how scared you might have been. I’m so sorry to have put you through that.”  
“I promise that I’ll do everything in my being to stay safe and keep you safe as well.”

Soleil carefully sat up and wiped her eyes. She looked at her father. “But on the battlefield, promises are just…”

Laslow put on a quick smile. “What? Do you think your old man’s promise is meaningless?”

She chuckled. “Of course! It’s just…”

Laslow cusped his daughter's face. “Soleil, I promise. As long as you promise me that you’ll keep yourself safe. That way neither of us will have to lose each other”

Soleil looked of to the side to think about it. She looked back at her dad with a big smile on her face. “ I believe you. I promise I won’t do anything that reckless again. But you have to promise to stay with me forever, okay? You can’t ever leave me again.”

Laslow laughed. “A deal's, a deal. This isn’t the deep realms. I’ll never leave you like that again.”


End file.
